


One Jump Ahead

by cazzy



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Aladdin!AU, F/M, aladdin!rey, dumb plot bunny, princessjasmine!ben, thank you disney overlords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 12:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6116609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cazzy/pseuds/cazzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe pickpocketing a prince was a bad idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Jump Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> *raises hand* Hi, my name is Caz, and I have a pathological problem with writing drabbles and keeping the wordcount low.
> 
> This was going to be sub-500 words at some point, I swear. I just wanted some sassy PrincessJasmine!Ben Solo and scoundrelAladdin!Rey...

She's starving, and the gnawing emptiness of her stomach has her hands shaking and her head spinning. Jakku's a vast, expansive desert, and with desert climate comes the harsh heat of the sun and the buffeting winds of endless sand.

Rey spends her last few coins on a small clay jug of water, and while she can't bring herself to regret the purchase as she takes a controlled swig from the container, it leaves her wistful for even the smallest morsel of sustenance.

The Niima marketplace is busy today, and she slips between a rowdy group of haggling men to find a bit of respite from the bustling strip. There's a small alcove behind one of the market stands that provides a decent source of shade, and Rey takes advantage of it, relaxing against the dirty ground to stabilize her dizziness. The lightheaded feeling that comes along with lack of food makes things difficult, because Rey really needs to pickpocket someone soon or else her body will grow too weak to even attempt it.

Resorting to thievery is not a way to make an honest living, she knows, but neither is abandoning a three-year-old child on the streets to fend for herself.

Rey closes her eyes and takes a long drink from her jug, savoring the cool water held in her mouth. She swishes it about idly between her teeth as mindless chatter and bartering fills her ears.

“Rey,” a voice says sharply, and its familiarity has her flinching instinctively. Plutt never has anything pleasant to say to her, and she cracks one eye open to look up at his overlarge presence.

His heavyset frame is repugnant in its obvious display of wealth, and her stomach releases a loud growl as if in complaint of it.

“To what do I owe this honor?” she drawls, and the jowls of his neck jiggle furiously when she places a comforting hand on the staff resting next to her. He's wealthier than her, and somehow has it in his mind that his piles of gold mean he's a better, more cultured individual, but Rey knows from experience that she can beat him in combat in less than seven seconds flat.

“You owe me a lot more than honor,” he growls, and then he's launching into a tirade about how her debt is climbing and he expects recompense immediately.

“That isn't even the proper way to respond to that,” Rey says, cutting off his rant. She presses the palms of her hands to the dirty ground and heaves her body up into a standing position. The action sends an unpleasant wave of nausea rolling through her stomach, and she winces.

“ _What_?”

“The saying. It means I'm wondering why you're here, has nothing to do with _my_ honor.” Why does she even bother explaining things to idiots?

He stares at her blankly, but at least it's better than evading the spittle that flies from his mouth when he snarls about street rats and their uncouth poverty.

She _so_ does not feel well enough to bother with this.  “I'll get your money, alright? Back off.”

Plutt doesn't look pleased, but Rey glances pointedly at her staff lying on the ground, and he acquiesces and leaves with an uncomfortable-looking waddle.

Rey sighs as he goes. Time to get to work.

She's observing the people bustling about the marketplace for a comfortable amount of time, staff held tightly in her grip, when she sees the perfect target.

He's tall enough to stick out among those brushing past him, head covered by a cream-colored shawl that casts a shadow over his face. She can see just enough of his eyes to know that he's distracted as he peruses the various market stalls. Although his clothes are brown and ordinary and help him blend in with the passerby, her eyes are sharp and she can see the glint of gold round his neck and beneath the shawl.

Rey times it perfectly. He's gazing at some intricately-woven rugs when she rams her shoulder into his stomach, and he huffs out a surprised breath against his will.

“I'm sorry,” she says with a loud gasp in an effort to come off as innocently clumsy even as she slips a nimble hand into the folds of his clothing.

He shoots her an irritated glance, and she's struck for the briefest of moments by his features. “Watch where you're going,” the man says, voice deep and annoyed, and Rey is so caught off-guard by the unusual slant of his nose and his high cheekbones that she can't prevent her indignant, “Not my fault your chest is so huge!”

The man stops at that, and Rey is acutely aware of the flush that burns on her tanned cheeks.

“ _You_ bumped into _me,_ ” he says slowly, and then, “and you're blaming me for your reckless actions?”

“Yeah,” Rey responds, because now she has to distract him before he gets suspicious. “You ought to be more careful, walking around the marketplace with your freakish – ” and now she's officially lost it as she waves her hand in a grand gesture of his apparent freakishness “ – stature and all. Easy to bump into.”

The incredulous look he gives her is the perfect opportunity to escape, and she beats a hasty retreat before he notices that she's swiped his coin-purse. Once she's a safe distance away, she takes a peek inside of it.

There are enough gold coins held within the small silk bag to feed her for a month.

It's risky business, robbing the rich. Oftentimes they are more than wealthy enough to discount a few pickpocketings, and they'll quickly learn not to carry too much money on their person, but a small percentage of the upper class are vengeful and view themselves as above the law.

Rey has no idea which type of man he is, and the thought makes her second guess the theft. If he pursues her, she'll be in serious trouble. It's an easy enough decision to retrace her steps and tail the man from a safe distance away to see how he'll react, and she keeps an eye on him as he stops in front of Plutt's stand.

Plutt is trying to swindle the man, but she begrudgingly admits that some of his wares _are_ high quality and desirable enough. The tall man picks up an expensive-looking vase before engaging in a brief conversation, and she watches as he pats down his body in an attempt to find his gold.

She only just manages to suppress the wince as his face twists into an outraged snarl. It isn't as though she truly  _enjoys_ stealing from others, but if they're fortunate enough to have a bed and food on a regular basis, then it's easier to relegate them as faceless entities that assist in her survival. Seeing the aftermath of her crimes is much less appealing. 

“That girl!” he barks angrily, and then he frantically whips his head around to stare at the people passing him by.

To her dismay, Unkar Plutt sweeps his gaze over the marketplace as well for a moment before locking eyes with her and pointing her out to the man.

This is why she has no _goddamn friends_ in this shithole of an oasis. 

“Hey!” he yells out as she turns on her heel and bolts, and the resounding, “You have to pay for that, you rat!” that sounds out across the market has Rey whipping her head around to understand the words.

The man seems not to have noticed that the expensive golden vase clutched in his hands is now officially stolen goods from Unkar Plutt, and his chase after her transforms into something else as they dodge and weave past the general population. Plutt's dismayed snarls follow them down the road of the marketplace, and somehow they're fleeing alongside one another as their feet pound against the sand and adrenaline pumps a heady cocktail in her veins.

Rey knows Jakku like the back of her hand, and because he's apparently a wanted criminal as well she grabs onto his hand and jerks him into a nearby building. It's an abandoned shack, one she can usually rely on as a great place for napping when it isn't infested with scarabs, and she braces a hand against the wall to catch her breath.

“What are you _doing?”_ she asks as her voice hitches on a pant. 

“I'm running away!” he says, breathing hard.

“No,  _I'm_ running away. Why are you running away with me?”

“Ah,” he says after a moment, and from the look on his face he actually has no idea. The vase is still clutched tightly in one of his hands, and he looks genuinely confused.

Rey's doubled over in laughter now, even as lightheadedness makes her sway unsteadily on her feet, but the situation is so patently ridiculous that she can't control it. The exertion of energy is certainly going to rebound onto her horrifically, but all she can focus on is the loud, echoing noise of the man's own laughter as he drops the vase and gasps for breath along with her. 

Eventually his laughs taper off and he adopts an indignant expression. “Hey, you brat, you stole my gold!”

Damn, of course he'd be more worried about his funds than the hilarity of their mutual criminal behavior. And now Rey's the one giving him a gaping-fish look as she chokes out, “Ah.”

“You thief, give it  _back – ”_

His words are interrupted by the loud bang of the door as it's kicked open. A swarm of Grand Vizier Snoke's guards burst into the abandoned shack, and Rey doesn't have enough time to pull her staff out and take a defensive stance as they shove her unceremoniously up against the wall.

“We'll protect you from this scoundrel, Prince Ben!” one of them shouts as they begin to bind her hands behind her back, and oh, _fuck,_ of course he's the crowned prince and she stole from him and he was probably being tailed by palace guards this entire time and she's in _way_ over her head.

Rey manages to lift her head up and offer him a wry smile as they wrestle her into submission, and she sees his eyes widen and his lips part in protest when she is quite literally dragged away by the guards. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is pretty rough and was written fairly quickly, but apparently I'm going for quantity rather than quality, haha. Will probably not expand this much more beyond this ficlet because it was really just something I needed to get out of my system. (I say that, but do I really mean it? I do not seem to have much willpower over the things I want to write in this fandom.)


End file.
